Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.-The Belhaven baseball team rallied from a 3-0 deficit for a 6-4 victory over Spring Hill College Friday night in game one of a three game Southern States Athletic Conference at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers, ranked 15th in the Preseason NAIA Top 25 Poll, trailed 3-0 going into the bottom of the fifth and scored twice in the fifth, added two more runs in the sixth, and single runs in both the seventh and eighth for the win.

Spring Hill cracked the scoreboard in the top of the first inning scoring an unearned run, aided by three Belhaven errors. Shortstop Ryan Cummings singled to left and moved to second on a fielding error by Anthony Doss and then scored on errors by third baseman Bud Britt and shortstop Ryne Cook on a ball hit by catcher Ryan Stevens.

The Badgers added two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Cummings and Stevens to make it a 3-0 game. Belhaven responded in the home half of the fifth by scoring twice to cut the deficit to 3-2. Britt singled home Wertz, who had walked with one out, and first baseman Jamie Bruno cashed in Doss on a sacrifice fly. Doss had followed Wertz with a single to reach base.

The Blazers took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the sixth thanks to an error by Spring Hill third baseman Rick LaForce that gave Belhaven an extra out to work with. Britt made the Badgers pay by drilling a two out two run single to left plating Cook and second baseman Jason Hicks for a 4-3 lead. Belhaven went up 5-3 in the seventh on a two out pinch hit RBI double by Hamilton Harper and chalked up run number six on a sac fly by Britt in the eighth. Spring Hill's fourth run was produced on an RBI double by DH Fred Rossi in the top of the eighth.

Belhaven (23-12, 8-8 SSAC) was led by Britt with two hits and four runs batted in. Doss was 3 for 4 with a run scored followed by Wertz with two hits and one run scored. Catcher Clay Bonds and Cook both notched base hits and pinch hitter Hamilton Harper came up with the clutch two out RBI double in the seventh. Allen Johnson earned the win and improves to 5-4 after tossing six innings in which he allowed three runs on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Josh Clarke was credited with his ninth save of the season after pitching 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball with three strikeouts to close it out.

Spring Hill College (13-16, 5-11 SSAC) was paced by Cummings who collected two hits and an RBI with a pair of runs scored. Rossi was 2 for 4 with and RBI and Stevens chipped in with a hit and one run batted in. Casey Adams took the loss and falls to 3-3 in 2012, surrendering four runs on nine hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Relief pitchers Jeff Keenum and Daniel Pitfield each fired one inning and were responsible for one run.

Belhaven will be back on the field Saturday for games two and three of the series beginning at 1:00 PM at Smith-Wills Stadium.